Computer data leaks can be a serious problem in both corporate and government environments. Data leaks can result in the intentional or unintentional release of data that should not be released for corporate or government security reasons. For example, data leaks include sending a sensitive e-mail to the wrong address, mistakenly uploading a confidential document instead of a conference submission, or intentionally transmitting or saving a sensitive document to a USB drive. The leaks can be the result of user error, lack of training, negligence, unfamiliarity with equipment, or malicious intent.
Attempts have been made to fix this problem but they have met with limited success. For example, the data exiting a system can be monitored and the flow of any data that meets certain criteria for sensitivity can be stopped. However, this does not prevent data from being printed, displayed, or moved to another part of the system and then removed through a non-monitored port.